Some Things Never Change
by Hecate's Magical Ambassador
Summary: Who is James Potter? Well, isn't that the question of the century...or two centuries. Both may be big-headed pricks who love pranking, but maybe there's more behind them then just a pretty face. And maybe unexpected time travel wasn't as inconvenient as I thought it would be.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Don't get mixed in with the wrong type of people," my dad said, "Be a good girl, okay Gracie?"

"Dad, I haven't done anything like that in years!" I said, rolling my eyes. "Why are you still worried about that?"

See, my name is Grace Lee, AKA "Thing Number 1," according to my third school's principal. I was nicknamed ungraciously because I somehow managed to unleash the plumbing system on everyone who was in the teacher's lounge in the first week. That was until third grade, of course.

My dad obviously a little confused by my question. "What are you talking about? I meant that you should not be nosy! Of course, no pranking would be a plus, but I think that your mom's pranking genes may have been all used up. Just promise me that you won't become friends with kids like that Po– Grace! Get on the train it's leaving!"

Thankfully, I made it on just in time. I was even able to find an empty compartment! Whatever my dad was going to say probably wasn't too important anyways; after all, I wasn't completely dumb and without tact. I even stopped pranking to make things easier for him! After my mom passed away, I took the more studious route so that my dad wouldn't have to constantly worry about finding a new school for me to attend. It was such a shame, honestly. I mean, all schools have plumbing systems after all. Sighing, I took out _Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince_ and began to read.

~Grace Lee~

I just got to a really interesting part about how Hermione sent a bunch of angry birds at Ron when I heard a loud crash in the hallway. Following this, two boys ran into my compartment and locked the door behind them. They were both breathing hardly, but I couldn't tell if it was from running or from laughing. They quickly composed themselves as a rather mean looking girl with unusually pink hair charged into our compartment. She gave us an appraising look, and then stalked off snootily, muttering under her breath.

As I said before, I'm not stupid. This girl can add 1 and 1 together. The boys obviously didn't think so though. They both burst out laughing. While struggling to catch his breath, the familiar looking black-haired brown-eyed boy began talking rather loudly to his red-haired friend.

"Fred, did you see the look on her face?!" he wheezed, "Wait until she sees what we have planned for tonight!"

"I know right!" exclaimed Fred, "But James, we should figure out how everything is going to work tonight."

"Right," replied James, suddenly growing somber, "I honestly have no idea how we're going to pull this off. I mean, we already set them up. That dye isn't coming out for another day. A week, if we're lucky. But how are we going to keep their hats away from them during the Welcoming Feast?"

The boys seemed to have a bit of prankster's-block. Finally, after striking out levitation (older students could just _accio_ them back) and vanishing (the magic was far too advanced and unpredictable), the boys seemed to give up on the idea.

Meanwhile, I was having a bit of a dilemma. Two parts of me were having WWIII against each other.

It's your perfect opportunity to shine!

Shut up! Remember what dad said!

Psh, he only said that it would be a plus, not a necessity.

Yeah, but he still wouldn't appreciate it. That's why you stopped in the first place!

Well, you never actually did promise him anything…

But he'll be so disappointed…

What if I don't care?

He's your dad!

The boys finally seemed to notice that there was someone else in the compartment for the first time. The boy named Fred looked at me a bit cautiously before asking, "Sorry for barging in and all. That Penelope girl was horrid. Do you mind if we stay in this compartment?"

"In other words, you don't want me to rat you guys out, huh?" I asked, amused, "Well, don't worry, because I'm not going to."

The boys breathed a sigh of relief before the boy named James asked, "How did you know that that's what Fred meant?"

"It takes one to know one, I guess."

I was hoping that they would catch on and we would be the best of prankster groups together immediately, but James obviously didn't have as much tact as I did.

"Psh! You?! You're a prankster?" James sputtered sarcastically.

"Yeah, and I'm a much better one!" I exclaimed while feeling a bit offended.

Apparently, James was as prideful as I was when it came to his skills in pranking. "Well, then prove it!" he retorted, "I bet you can't come up with a way to make all of the Slytherin hats disappear during the Welcoming feast!"

"And if I can?"

"I might deem you worthy to be part of our group; even if you are just a bird."

By now, WWIII had ended inside my mind. There was a clear winner. "Actually, you two are in luck," I said, smiling deviously. "I have a plan, but it will need all of us. Hate me now, but trust me; by the end of tonight, we are going to dethrone the Marauders as the kings of pranking!"

~Grace Lee~

"If this works, we need to make a name for the three of us," James declared.

"Maybe I don't want in," I sighed. I obviously wanted in; these boys were talented pranksters that I wanted to share notes with. However, I wanted to see if I could water down James's overinflated ego. "Maybe I'm just doing this to prove that I'm the better prankster."

"If so, we still want you to –," Fred stopped talking after receiving a glare from James.

"I just meant that we need a name for the three of us for tonight," James added hastily, "I mean, I guess you did kind of come up with the idea, so none of us can take credit for the full prank."

Just then, the mean looking girl opened our compartment door. "We're almost there. You little gremlins should probably change into your school robes now," she growled, before slamming the door shut.

We all looked at each other immediately after she left. "Gremlins!" we all declared at the same time.

~Grace Lee~

The Hogwarts Castle was a truly amazing sight to see. When we went inside the Great Hall for the first time, the older students all seemed to be looking at one person in particular: James. The whole hall seemed to be muttering the same things. "Another Potter…wonder if…looks like his dad."

I tried to ignore this, but it was essential for the older students to not pay close attention to us. Otherwise, they might hear things that might land us in detention for months. All of us first years stopped in front of an old hat. For the first time, I remembered that we still had to be sorted. The prank plans made me completely forget about the Sorting! Please don't be in Slytherin, I thought. I prefer not being pranked!

James and Fred both suddenly seemed to realize the problem as well. Even James seemed slightly less haughty and a little nervous. I knew that the hat would put us in the right house, but it didn't make me feel any less nervous. Suddenly, the hat began to sing.

Afterwards, the hall erupted in clapping. I would have joined in had I not been shaking so much. "Abbott, Aaron," called Headmistress McGonagall. All too soon, I heard my name, "Lee, Grace," being called.

Slowly, I sat on the stool. The hat stayed silent for a while. I could feel everyone's eyes on me. Finally it spoke. "I can tell you that you have enough qualities to belong to any house. It's your choice." Any house, I thought. No house stood out to you? "I wanted to put you in Slytherin. But you don't seem to want to go there. Not all Slytherins are evil. You could be the one to bring them a more positive connotation." Not there! Anywhere but there! I thought violently. "If you say so…" muttered the Hat.

For literally the next ten minutes, everyone was looking at me. I heard Headmistress McGonagall mutter "There hasn't been a Hat Stall in a while!" I didn't know what this meant, but I hoped that I would be put into the right house; unless it was Slytherin. Even if I wasn't prejudice against the house itself, some of the kids there seemed rather unpleasant. On the other hand, James and Fred…well, I knew that I was going to be the one to put them in check. Apparently, these thoughts were heard by the Sorting Hat as well. "That's rather brave of you. A bit prideful, watch that, but I think that you might just have a dash more of courage and – GRYFFINDOR!"

People didn't actually start clapping for quite a little bit. Many people seemed startled to hear the Sorting Hat call out a decision after waiting a good ten minutes. Finally, Fred stood up, winked at me, and began to clap. Luke, a very nice third year who greeted us on the way in, came out of shock quickly enough too. They both definitely had more tact then James, whose expression clearly stated that he had been hoping for me to not go to Gryffindor. I definitely liked Fred a lot more than James.

~Grace Lee~

The Sorting Hat seemed to make up for all the time that it took on me. Everyone else was sorted relatively quickly; both James and Fred were sorted into Gryffindor almost immediately. Fortunately, the older students seemed to stop paying attention to James after a while. (Mainly because he did not need his head to be any bigger than it already was.) The Headmistress gave a small speech that I probably should have paid attention to; however, I was already busy practicing the spell under my breath.

I was so focused that I almost shrieked in shock when delicious food appeared out of nowhere. Now was the time to commence our prank. Fred pulled out a black powder and threw it in the air when nobody was looking. Thank Merlin for Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. The room turned pitch black. Quickly, James and I whispered "_Avifors! Aguamenti!_"

Slowly, the room became visible again. Since I was the "innocent" first year, I stood up, pointed at the Slytherins, and asked in a loud voice, "What happened to their hair, Luke?" Slowly, everyone's heads turned toward the Slytherin table. They were all soaking wet with bright, neon colored hair. They also all wore varying angry and confused expressions. Everyone else wore a slightly amused expression.

I heard Fred next to me whisper "_Avis Agito_" followed by a bunch of words. Suddenly a bunch of birds flew out of nowhere to spell out "_Courtesy of the Gremlins. Pranks for all for the next 7 years!_" These birds proceeded to drop dungbombs on the Slytherin table before departing the Great Hall. By now, nobody could keep a straight face; everyone was laughing, crying, or yelling madly at the birds that just flew away. James, Fred, and I didn't need much of an excuse to join in. The rest of the feast was only more fun afterward; everyone was speculating who the newest pranksters were. It was one of the best feelings ever.

~Grace Lee~

Fred pulled me back before we could go into the Gryffindor common room. He glared at James and gave him a nudge. "So, Fred was thinking…that maybe we do need a third person to complete the Gremlins," James mumbled.

James seemed to be biting his tongue the entire time. Payback time, I thought. "What was that? Could you say that just a little bit louder? I couldn't hear you under all of that embarrassment," I snorted as haughtily as I could.

He seemed like he wanted to retort, but Fred kicked him a little harder. "You had a great idea for a prank, and I think that we can work well together, alright?" James sputtered while walking away. "Now, come on, we have to plan out our next prank!"

Next to me, Fred chuckled. "I don't think that anyone has ever been able to water down his ego. Good luck with that; he's a thick as a –"

"I heard that! And don't think that you're going to have it easy, Lee! This conversation never happened!"

Smiling, I followed James and Fred to the dormitories. This was going to be a heck of a year.

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****Hey guys, so I'm Hecate's Magical Ambassador. Hopefully you guys like my story. Please review and give any suggestions! Thanks :)  
P.S. It will probably take until Chapter 5 for the description box thingy to take place. Sorry!**


	2. Five Years Later

**Five Years Later**

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER! I AM GOING TO _KILL _YOU!"

"I reckon you should run for it mate," chuckled Fred, "I don't think that she liked your little 'gift'."

You don't say, I thought. Grace was _scary_ when she was mad. Downright terrifying. It's always hilarious to watch, but I've been on the receiving end of it enough times to tell you that it's not a fun experience. Do you know how embarrassing it is to be left hanging from the ceiling of the Great Hall? Especially when everyone knows that you're James Potter? This time though, I honestly had no idea as to why she was so angry.

"James, get over here!" screamed a very irate Grace.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

After turning the corner, it was rather obvious. Her entire face had swelled to the size of a watermelon and her hands were swollen.

"You just thought that it would be funny," she yelled, "to spray a bouquet of flowers with the swelling potion, didn't you? I can't even reduce this by myself because of the restrictions on underage magic! We have to wait until your dad gets home!"

Bored, I pulled out my wand and said "_Reducio._" Her face and hands returned to normal size. I knew that she was about to yell at me for doing underage magic, but I seriously didn't want to hear about it.

"We're in a magical household. The Ministry can't tell what magic we do in here!" I explained, "Restrictions only really matter in muggle houses. Don't yell at me, okay?"

"I wasn't going to yell at you," Grace said with an eerily calm voice, "But, it's nice to know that information. _Densaugeo!_"

As my teeth grew to the size of a beaver's, she smiled and said, "That should teach you." She proceeded to walk away, obviously satisfied.

Luckily for me, I am studying to be a Healer. I knew how to shrink teeth back to normal, so the change wasn't permanent. The pain went away after a while, and then Grace, Fred, and I would continue the cycle of being awesome together. Grace could never stay mad at me for too long (except for that one time, but we are over that now), and Fred just had enough tact to be the "good guy" in any given situation.

~James Sirius Potter~

Sure enough, Grace was sitting in our room talking to Fred. I could hear her complaining about me even before I got close to the door.

"…irresponsible, annoying, egotistical prat! Even his room reflects it!"

"Sorry to interrupt in your _interesting_ discussion, but I would just like to point out that these posters aren't mine," I said, while closing the door behind me. "They belonged to Sirius Black, my dad's godfather and my namesake."

"Obviously you inherited something from this 'Sirius' character," mumbled Grace. She proceeded to sit on my bed with a pouty expression, but I knew that it was safe for me to talk and joke around with her again.

"Oy! Don't insult Mr. Padfoot! He's the best!" I protested playfully, sitting next to Grace, "We wouldn't have been able to do half as many of the pranks that we did without his help."

"Actually, we still would have done a good bit," interjected Fred, "I mean, our first prank at Hogwarts is a pretty good example; remember their faces?"

"I only remember how everyone wanted to know who the Gremlins were," Grace said pensively, "Although, I suppose he did help a lot. Remember that time that Penelope tried to open the map, James?"

She smiled at me, a genuine smile. I smiled back. For a moment, everything was perfect; just two friends having a good time, not yelling at each other or trying to kill one another. I remembered that I actually enjoyed her company occasionally. And I guess Fred was there too.

Then, as usual, things went downhill. Grace turned back to Fred and said, "I think that the Invisibility Cloak helped us sneak out way more though."

Fred coughed and mumbled "Luke" rather indiscreetly. Grace turned bright red. "I'm clearly not going to get any support from either of you today, so I'm going to go to my own room. Although, I don't really understand why you don't like him, Fred."

I answered almost instinctively, "Well…he's a bit of a prick, if that's what you mean." Before I could process what I had just said, Grace had slammed the door in my face. I stared at the door. I couldn't understand what I was feeling at that moment; was I indignant, angry, or amused? None of them seemed to fit right.

I turned back to Fred who wore a rather amused expression. I gave him a questioning glance, but all he did was shake his head before getting in bed. With no idea as to what this meant, I fell asleep while replaying the conversation we just had in my head.

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**-Hecate's Magical Ambassador :)**


	3. You're On!

**You're On!**

"_Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee!_" sang the book.

"Will you _please_ make that thing shut up?" I yelled at Fred. He gave me the evil eye before removing the spell from the book.

"Don't be such a buzz kill," whined Fred, "Why are you so uptight all of a sudden? You used to be fun!"

"Maybe because your new victim is _always_ me, Lindsey, or my other roommates! And there's a new prank waiting for us every half-hour! I don't get why you've suddenly started with this nonsense, but I'd rather be part of the prank than be the prey! If you two would actually include me in prank discussions, then maybe I'd be more 'fun!'" I yelled before storming out of the common room, heading for the library. A couple first years backed away in fright.

This was becoming a common occurrence for the Gryffindor common room. I was already stressed-out; not only were the teachers bent on killing us with homework, I had to help organize the Quidditch team, fulfill prefect duties, and plan out next year's exchange program between Hogwarts and an American school called Librefeld. I could not deal with whatever stupid prank James would come up next.

Speaking of which, both James and Fred were acting really weird around me. Before, the three of us could talk about anything and everything, tease each other, and prank each other. We'd still be best of friends by the end of it. Recently though, I saw Fred pestering James about something and they'd stop as soon as they saw me. It's obvious that they were talking about me. Also, whenever I think things have gone back to normal, Fred gives James a look, and he suddenly goes back to being his immature, over-arrogant first year self again. Whenever I hang out with either of them separately, everything seems normal again. I just can't understand it.

While I was thinking about all of this, I heard one of the statues on my left sneezed. I had never seen that statue come to life before, so I immediately became wary. Suddenly, all of the statues started throwing water balloons at me. When I finally ran out of the hallway, I stumbled into another hallway that was filled with snow. I could literally hear my teeth chattering and feel the water on my skin freezing into ice. By the time I got out of that hallway, my hair had icicles.

I am going to murder those two, I thought to myself. They used my own prank idea against me! What kind of sick person would do that?

After drying myself off, I headed toward the two hallways that tortured me. Sure enough, all signs of a giant water balloon fight and a winter wonderland were gone. However, behind the statue that sneezed was half of a shoe. I reached forward and ripped the invisibility cloak off to find James silently cracking up. He took one glance at my countenance before trying to look as somber as he could.

"You nincompoops! You two used my own prank against me! Come on!" I fumed.

"Technically, it could have been for anyone that used this hallway," James said with a cocky smile on his face.

"No, it was for me; Fred was supposed to annoy me in the common room and cause me to storm up to the library. It's already happened for the last three days. You knew what path I usually take to the library and set up a trap. Ingenious, but you're still going to pay for it." That last part came out before I had time to think about what I was implying.

James looked a little nervous for just a second before haughtily proclaiming, "Psh, I'm not afraid of you. What are you going to do, Gracie?"

He seemed to regret saying that immediately. I HATED the name "Gracie." Too late now though. "We are going to have a little competition. Some would call it a war. A _prank _war." I articulated each syllable as clearly as I could. "And it officially starts now! _Expelliarmus! Tarantallegra!_"

James's wand flew into my hand and he began to dance a…something. It was probably the funniest disgrace to dance, but it was good enough for me.

"Oy, give me my wand back!" yelled James.

"Or you'll what? Dance horribly at me?" I taunted. "Catch me if you can!"

And so, James ended up dancing all the way back to the Gryffindor common room. It wasn't until a sufficient amount of Gryffindors had seen his horrible dance that I agreed to let him stop. After he caught his breath, he glared at me intensely.

"You're on, Lee. And you are sooo going to regret it."

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	4. Overboard

**Overboard**

_Gremlin's Journal Entry 814_

_Members of Conversation:_

_JSP_

FGW

_Date: September 14, 2023_

_ G has gone absolutely mental! She's insane! The last 10 days have been all out war between her and her roommates and me and my roommates. _

In other words, she's winning.

_I don't get how she's doing it! I mean, we have this journal with all of the prank ideas that we have ever come up with, we have the Marauder's Map and the Invisibility Cloak, your dad owns the best joke shop ever, and we have the mirror system. How the heck is she still winning 24 to 15!? _

Well, she is rather talented at Disillusionment Charms. And, she does make a rather cute rabbit. Plus, she knows that we have all of these helpful things. And you forgot that we have Peeves on our side.

_Not anymore; he's been helping G this entire time._

That traitor! No wonder they've all been avoiding all of the hallways that we set up pranks in and our traps keep getting sprung by other students!

_Anyways, we better get ready for detention [for until we graduate]. The staff and prefects have not been so er…pleased with our genius pranks. I swear that they are on her side too. She only has a month worth of detentions!_

Like I said before, she makes a rather cute bunny. I still can't believe that she managed to become an Animagus within a year. Well let's get going.

_J and F signing out!_

~James Sirius Potter~

"Sometimes, I think that the founders of Hogwarts were quite mental," sighed Fred, "Who came up with the notion that girls were more trustworthy than boys?"

We came back to our room after detention to find our dorm room pouring cats and dogs. I had to admire Grace's charm work, but this was a little more than I could handle. "That's 25 to 15! She's ten ahead of us! We cannot let this go down," I muttered darkly, "We have to think of something more embarrassing than all of her pranks combined!"

"Just make sure that you don't go too overboard. Her pranks are annoying but they aren't too cruel, I guess," Fred said before mumbling a bunch of spells at our very wet room. Unfortunately, that only made the room start flooding. The flood washed us down into the common room where Grace was waiting to take a photo of us in our soaking wet clothes. The entire Gryffindor house was waiting and looked at us amused. Grace grinned before saying, "Spells' broken now. Watch out for your beds though. There may or may not be something hidden. Have fun going to sleep!" Then she pranced back to her own room.

She left us both shaking in rage. "Forget what I just said," Fred muttered darkly, "This is WAR!" And with that, we started to plot our revenge.

~James Sirius Potter~

We waited until Grace was showering. Then, through the windows, we levitated her clothes into a bag that we brought along. It must have been a weird sight; two guys on broomsticks holding a gigantic bag that was filling itself with clothes. After all of her and her roommates' clothes and towels were finally packed away, we flew down to the lake.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea," Fred murmured, "I can hear her yelling at us already."

"Serves her right; plus, everyone will see her naked. It gives us ten extra points!" I exclaimed. But even as I said that, I felt a little disgusted in myself. I mean, Grace is one of my best friends. I do care about her (I will deny this under oath though). Maybe this wasn't such a…

I heard a loud scream from the Gryffindor castle that sounded like "JAMES SIRIUS POTTER!" A surge of annoyance passed through me. Why was it always me? She so favored Fred! I mean, why does she like him better than me?!

"Well, it's now or never! Dump it all in!" I yelled to Fred.

We were counting on Grace taking a long time to find clothes to wear in order to come down and kill us both. However, she seemed to have caught on pretty quickly that no Gryffindor girl's clothes were in the Gryffindor castle. She had rushed outside with a bikini on!

"I AM GOING TO F*–"

"– Language!–"

"–MURDER YOU GUYS! You are so lucky that I was paranoid enough to shower in a bathing suit!" She grabbed the bag from Fred's hands. He gave her an apologetic look and she seemed to soften from diamond-hard to only rock-hard. She glanced at me and her gaze seemed to harden again. Then, she grabbed my shirt and pulled me closer to her. We were nose to nose; close enough to be kissing. I knew that I was done for. Luckily, Lindsey, her best girl friend, came over and reasoned with her.

"He's not worth it Grace!" she pleaded. Grace let me go. For a moment, I thought that everything would be fine. Then, her hand came back and slapped the living daylights out of me.

I vaguely heard snippets of her long rant. "– disgusting pigs – everyone – see me naked? –I never did anything like – ashamed of you two – especially you – way too far – going to regret it –" I passed out without hearing anything else.

~James Sirius Potter~

When I woke up, I was in the Hospital Wing. I had quite a crowd of girls looking over me. As much as I loved being popular, it was sometimes a bit annoying. Fortunately, Madam Pomfrey managed to shoo away my fan club. My head was still throbbing a little from the impact of Grace's hand, but I could just make out Fred and Grace arguing while my fan club dispersed. Whatever they were arguing about, Fred seemed to finally agree with her. Grace gave me a dirty look before leaving with the other girls.

A resigned looking Fred sat down near my bed. "I think she downright hates both of us," he sighed.

"What were you two arguing about anyways?" I asked. "You two are usually as thick as thieves. She forgives you for just about anything," I added bitterly.

"It was nothing. By the way, you haven't thought about what I told you in the beginning of the year, have you?"

"Stop changing the subject!" I stuttered. I could feel my face going a little red. "And no, I already told you I don't like any of the Gryffindor girls like that. I don't know why you keep bringing that up either; we can't discuss that kind of stuff with Grace. It makes things awkward at meals."

He snorted. "As if things weren't awkward enough! And I was just wondering because, you know, Lindsey isn't bad looking. And I really think that we messed this one up big time. You know how touchy Grace is about these kinds of things. You know, about being naked and all. I'd watch my back if I were you."

With that happy thought, he left the Hospital wing, leaving me to figure out what the heck he meant.

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	5. Obsession

**Obsession**

"Grace! Just look at all of the side effects the potion can cause! Please don't do it!" begged Fred.

"Calm down; those side effects only occur if the person genuinely cares about you in a romantic way," I stated while rolling my eyes. "I'm almost positive that James wants to kill me, so I think he'll be fine. It states here that it has to be 'true love' in order for the person to feel the darkest side effects."

"But even if it's just a crush, the person will have boils appear all over their skin!" exclaimed Fred, "That would be devastating! We already get in trouble enough; Headmistress Minnie won't let us off as much if James loses his looks!"

"I already debunked your theory, Freddie! Minnie does not let James off the hook more often than she lets you off the hook because of his looks! You're just jealous that for some reason she likes him better than you," I teased.

"No I'm not! And if you were anyone else, I would poop on you for calling me 'Freddie'. Anyways, I'm just saying that even though the love potion is a good prank, with all of these side effects, it isn't as safe! You could just buy something from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes."

"And wait two weeks for it to be shipped in? Yeah right! Plus, it's not as if James actually has a crush on me."

"Maybe you two are soul mates. You never know. Just look at Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione. They almost hated each other!"

"Whatever, the potion is done brewing. Let's go." Even though I tried my best to seem really nonchalant about it, Fred did make me think a little. I mean, Fred is like my brother. But James…I don't even know what he is. He's just…James. Still, I highly doubted that he had a crush on me, so at least the potion wouldn't ruin his looks.

And yes, he's very fit, okay? Most people our age aren't bad looking. Take Luke for example; his blond hair, blue eyes, and perfect tan was irresistible. Plus, he always told me that he like my really straight black hair. And he did it in Chinese! How the heck is someone that perfect? It's unfair! We broke it off though because he left school to become an Auror. Part of me still misses him, but I know that I have to move on.

All of this was running through my head while I poured a nice smelling potion into James's pumpkin juice.

~Grace Lee~

"For the billionth time, I don't need to be carried up the stairs! Nor do I need to hear a description of how beautiful I am! And stop looking at me with that unfocused expression!" I yelled, exhausted.

"I will do anything for my beautiful Gracie!" declared James, as he picked me up bridal style and carried me up two flights of stairs. This was starting to get really annoying.

I mean, at first, it was kind of funny; James announced his undying love for me in the Great Hall in front of everyone. I rejected him, causing a lot of laughter. Then, I had him carry all my books along with all of my roommates' books. He told everyone within a 10 feet radius about how much he loved me and how beautiful I was. Long story short, he was acting like a complete idiot. Unfortunately, that's when things went downhill.

Albus and Scorpius were just walking out of the Quidditch field when suddenly he found James proclaiming his love for me for the millionth time. Scorpius was really confused and asked me if this was a prank or a joke or something. Before I knew it, James was hexing the crap out of him. By the time Albus and I managed to get James under control, Scorpius was already half weasel, half chicken with bats flying around his head.

Professor Longbottom happened to be walking in the hallway; he gave all of us detention (excluding Scorpius) and took 10 points each. That's 30 points from Gryffindor! So yeah, I was pissed (so much for trying to help). Plus, James was starting to creep me out. He had almost used Dark Magic on Scorpius, which was really scary. I didn't even know that he knew that spell. I resolved to get the antidote immediately. I couldn't get it with James following me around all day though. He would suspect something. After all, the potion didn't make the person completely idiotic (only extremely idiotic). Time for Plan B!

~Grace Lee~

"You know the plan, right?"

"You so owe me for this," muttered Fred, "I cannot believe that you want me to pretend to be you! What if he tries to kiss me or something!? That would be sooo awkward; he's my best mate! Don't make me go through this!"

"You're the one that owes me a favor, so I'm using it now!"

Fred and I were currently sitting in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with a stash of Polyjuice Potion. I made a new batch every month for emergencies like this one. Apparently the potion made James forget that he could come in here because he was waiting outside for me. Standing next to me was Fred, who looked exactly like me. It was really creepy actually. Anyways, Fred was going to lead James away from the bathroom, allowing me to sneak up the Room of Requirement where I kept the antidote.

Fred gave me one last glare before heading out. I watched the clock. Half an hour had already gone by since Fred took the potion. He was trying to procrastinate and get out of it. Now, he had to awkwardly explain why he took so long to James. Serves him right. After another 10 minutes, I rushed up to the Room of Requirement.

_I need a place to hide my things, I need a place to hide my things_, I thought. The door opened and I rushed in. I quickly found the place where I put the antidote. Only five minutes left. I could hear James and Fred coming through the door.

"Why are we here again, Gracie? I thought we were going to Hogsmeade together?" asked a very confused James.

"Nothing, dear. I just forgot some er….powder in here," squeaked Fred in a horrible falsetto voice.

"You know, you've been acting really weird. Your voice sounds weird and you don't smell like you did at breakfast. You aren't cheating on me are you!" exclaimed a horrified James. "And now your hair is changing color! What the heck is – Fred?"

I started running toward where the boys were. "What have you done with _my_ Gracie!" shrieked James. "Where are you hiding her!?"

"James, I'm not–"

"If you won't tell me, then I'll, I'll…. _Sectumsempra!_" yelled James.

"Nooo!" I screamed as I tackled James. Fred had jumped out of the way just in time and the curse dissipated harmlessly. "James, if you really love me, you'll eat this okay!?" I cried desperate to get him to snap out of it.

"Gracie! You're alive. I'll do anything for _my _Gracie!" he exclaimed while eating the blue pill I just handed him. His unfocused expression slowly dropped into a look of horror. He pushed me aside and fell down in front of Fred. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't myself! I'd never do something like that! I swear on my life; you're my best mate!" he sobbed.

Fred awkwardly patted him on the back. "It's okay, I know. It was the love potion's effects." Fred gave me a pointed look. James still looked devastated and continued to apologize profusely. I stood there awkwardly, trying to recover from shock and have a conversation with Fred through facial expressions.

"How the heck," I started after finally getting over what just happened, "did you learn that spell in the first place?"

James seemed to notice me for the first time since he snapped out of a trance. "I don't know, but I obviously wouldn't have used it if someone didn't _poison_ me!"

"Don't change the subject on me! How did you know all of that Dark Magic in the first place? You better not have read through the Half Blood Prince's notebook!" I yelled back.

"Speaking of not changing subjects, let's return to a previous conversation about being ashamed of people and going overboard with pranks! How could you!? A love potion, are you serious? People do crazy things for love!"

"You weren't actually in love with me! It's more of an obsession," I said defensively. "Plus, this prank wouldn't have been overboard if you hadn't used Dark Magic! That wasn't one of the effects of love! That was you! What is it with you guys!?"

"DON'T EVEN TRY TO PIN THIS ON ME! IT WAS COMPLETELY YOUR FAULT! WHAT IS IT WITH YOU GIRLS?" James roared, taking a huge step toward me. He had a strange glint in his eye and I panicked for a moment. I backed away a little too quickly and accidentally hit my head hard on something. The last thing I remember before blanking out was the expressions of worry and shock (and dissipating anger for James) on James's and Fred's faces.

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Shock? What's that all about?! Review to find out! Pretty please? **


	6. Some Things Never Change

**Some Things Never Change**

I had the weirdest dream ever. Some weird pale guy with no nose was sucking green stuff out of people and making them come back to life. Everyone walked backward. Professor Longbottom unsliced a snake's head. It was strange to say the least.

I woke up right where I had landed earlier. There was a throbbing pain in my head and my eyes were swimming. I forced myself to focus. The Room of Requirement looked very different; there were so many things in the room, cluttered all over the place. It wasn't as neat as it was before; before, there had only been a couple of empty storage lockers with a couple tables that I cleared out to use for Gremlin projects. Nearly everything else had been destroyed by Fiendfyre. A few things had survived; the cabinet that contained the Half-Blood Prince's Potions book and many other things had managed to survive. Now though, there were piles of random things scattered all over the place. It was a jungle of forgotten objects.

I was sitting on a pile of debris with a golden arrow on top that pointed to the number 1977. Apparently my dream wasn't the only thing that was weird. Even stranger still, James and Fred were nowhere to be seen. I could see James leaving me in this room unconscious, but I didn't think that Fred would allow it. There was definitely something wrong.

I walked out of the Room of Requirement and almost immediately spotted James. He really needs to learn how to cover his feet correctly, I thought. I walked up to him and ripped the invisibility cloak off. There were two boys underneath with slightly surprised expressions. "James, what the heck was that all about? You just left me in there!" I complained.

A genuinely confused expression appeared over James's face. "Um…do we know you?" asked the other boy who had also been under the cloak.

"Don't act like you don't recognize me, Potter! I'm Professor McGonagall, who else?" I said sarcastically. For the first time though, I noticed that this James looked just like James, but with some obvious flaws; his eyes were a shade more hazel and his nose was a little longer. I had no idea who the other boy was, but he was very good-looking; his dark hair fell into his eyes with a sort of casual elegance. It was definitely not Fred, Albus or Scorpius.

They also seemed genuinely confused. What the heck was going on? Suddenly, I had a sinking feeling in my gut. The golden arrow…it pointed to a number…it can't be a…

"What year is this"?" I demanded.

"Why –"

"Just tell me!"

"It's September 17, 1977! Sheesh, woman; no need to freak out at us!" exclaimed the other boy.

I could feel the throbbing in my head multiply as he said those words. This was not going to be a fun time for me.

~Grace Lee~

Headmaster Dumbledore's office was nothing like Headmaster Minnie's office. There were little trinkets here and there. One closet held a bunch of glass vials; they were probably memories. In the middle of the room sat a large bird – a phoenix. It looked almost exactly the same as the one that had been described in Mr. Potter's (Harry's) books. Back in our time, Headmaster Minnie always had everything organized perfectly. This room was the epitome of chaos.

"Dumbledore will probably be here soon," said James. He tried to give me a reassuring glance, but failed rather miserably at it. I had explained to James and the other boy (Sirius Black apparently!) that I was from the future and blah, blah. They thought I was kidding at first, but eventually brought me up to the Headmaster's office. "By the way, remind me again; how did you know my name?" asked James.

"I didn't know your name," I explained, "I know your grandson, who also happens to be named James. Although I suppose I do know who you are too from...reading."

"So that means I have a son! And I'm famous! And I probably have a wife! Do you know who my wife is?" he asked excitedly.

I pondered the question for a moment. Is it against the laws of time travel? Then again, I already broke the rules; the number one rule is to not be seen. Oops. I guess I'd have to watch what I say. (After all, I had read all of the Harry Potter books. Thank God Ms. Rowling decided to document Harry's life; not only did she make a fortune out of it in the Muggle world, she also corrected all the misconceptions people had about Mr. Potter. It also made for a good read and contained a boat-load of pranking ideas.) Fortunately, Dumbledore took this moment to walk into his study.

"Please, sit down James and Grace," he said. It was weird to talk to Dumbledore in person; James and I had talked to his portrait a couple times when we sneaked into Minnie's study, but having the actual legend here in person was a bit overwhelming. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Mr. Potter, I'm sure that you were patrolling the castle as Head Boy, and therefore was out of bed; no other reason, right?"

James gave him a winning smile. "Of course not! I would never do such a thing." I felt the urge to roll my eyes.

"In other news, I believe that you said that Ms. Lee here has an interesting story to tell? Please do tell."

Feeling slightly nervous, I explained how I was from the year 2023 and how I was in the Room of Requirement when I hit my head on the something. "…and so now I'm here. I think that the globe-like thing that I hit my head on was some kind of oversized time-turner. I don't know exactly how it works but I really need to get back to my own time. That thing will probably get me back if it can be fixed."

Dumbledore gazed at me thoughtfully. I resisted the urge to squirm in my seat. Finally, he spoke. "The time-turntable can be fixed, but it will take until Christmas Break. Until then, you will need to live in the castle. You are a student, correct? I can add you into the classes you need to take. Is this a good course of action for you?"

Christmas!? That's a good 3 ½ months! However, the idea of getting ahead in school appealed to me. "I'm a seventh year and I'm training to be a healer. I'm taking Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, DADA, and Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy. I'm also a Gryffindor!" I lied. Well, technically, I only lied about the first part. Everything else was true; James and I both decided to work as healers. I got O's on all of my OWLS, except my Potions one, which I got an E on. (I don't like to mention that though because James and Freddie always tease me about that.) I am part of Gryffindor and I was taking those classes (which I already learned all of the material for anyways).

Dumbledore gave me a look that showed that he obviously knew I was lying about something, but he proceeded to say, "Well, the dorms have already added another bed for you. We will get you some new belongings. In the meantime, I suggest that you do not tell anyone else that you're from the future. We don't need anything bad happening to you. If anyone asks, you are James's cousin from America who is visiting him for this semester. Now have a good night, you two." And with that, we were escorted out of his study.

~Grace Lee~

"So…as you may have heard, I'm Head Boy here. That's why Sirius and I were sneaking – er…I mean patrolling the hallways at 2 in the morning," stuttered James (the first?).

"I'm not going to rat you out if that's what you're worried about," I said, rolling my eyes. "And I know that you're Prongs and he's Padfoot, by the way."

That seemed to alarm him even more. "What – how – but we didn't tell anyone!?" he sputtered out.

"Whoa, calm down. We um…inherited the map after we borrowed it from Filch's office," I explained. "Are Moony and Wormtail here too?"

James seemed a bit overwhelmed that some random girl had just been able to have a full conversation using 'their' jargon. Finally, he got over his shock and just looked at me. Then, he started laughing. "You? You're a prankster?" he managed to breathe out.

I felt a huge wave of Déjà vu. Apparently, this is where James II got his tact from. For the first time since I got here, something seemed funny. The world didn't seem out to get me. I started cracking up. James had a confused expression on his face. Actually, it might have been a worry for my sanity. "James – your grandson – said the same exact thing to me on our first train ride to Hogwarts," I huffed. "Then, we pranked the heck out of the Slytherins!"

James still looked a bit worried and even more unconvinced. "Sure…well you're going to have to prove it!" he said. I howled with even more laughter; I guess that some things just never change.

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**Hey guys! I'm not really sure if I want to continue this story...the lack of reviews is a bit depressing. So please review! It can be anonymous, whatever!  
**


	7. Déjà Vu

**Déjà Vu**

"Grace! Grace! I'm sorry! Just please come out, wherever you are!" I cried desperately. Fred and I had searched the entire Room of Requirement, but she had literally faded and disappeared.

"It's no use James," Fred said. "She isn't in here."

"No – this can't be happening! She can't just be…gone," I yelled, obviously distraught. I wasn't sure why this was affecting me so much; I was still really angry at her for using a love potion on me, but she had disappeared right after I said some pretty nasty things. "We have to go tell the Headmistress," I decided.

"Okay, but James, just remember that this isn't your fault no matter the outcome," Fred said cautiously.

"What do you mean 'no matter the outcome'? This is Grace we're talking about. She'll be fine – she has to be!" I said frantically.

Fred gave me a look of pity. "Let's go," he murmured.

~James Sirius Potter~

"…and now she's gone! And it's all my fault! She's never going to forgive me for this and –"

"– Mr. Potter, please calm down. There's no use in panicking. Ms. Lee will be fine; luckily for you two, I am familiar with the object that she must have crashed into. It's called a time-turntable. It works just like a time-turner in that it brings the user to the past –"

"–you mean like time-travel? Grace could be anywhere though!" I was clearly freaking out. _I_ caused Grace to be sent back in time with possibly no way to return. She could be killed! She could be tortured or maimed! Even worse, Grace could be forced to live out her life in that other time zone! She would have to start all over again and –

Minnie interrupted my thoughts. "I assure you that Ms. Lee will be fine. As I was saying, the time-turntable is different in that you turn it to a certain year. The traveler will appear in the other time-period on the same date and time of day. The only thing that will be different is the year. This applies to coming back to a date as well. Therefore, if Ms. Lee were to stay in the other time period for three and a half months, she would come back to our time period in three and a half months."

"What if she doesn't come back though?" asked Fred. For the first time, I noticed how anxious he seemed. Fred was always the one that glued the three of us together. He was the brave one. I'd never seen him this…scared. It didn't make me feel any better.

Fortunately, Headmaster Minnie had an answer to that. "I was just getting to that," she said, sounding a bit irked. "Ms. Lee traveled back to the year of 1977. I taught at Hogwarts at that time, so I remember meeting her. She left during Christmas Break, so she will probably be back around that time."

Christmas!? That was three months from now! "Can we do anything to bring her back faster, Minnie? I'll do anything to get her back!" I begged.

She gave me a sympathetic look. "Unfortunately, we will have to wait until then. In the meantime, I suggest for the two of you to continue on with your normal lives. I assure that Ms. Lee adapted rather well to the time period of 1977. I must say that I was surprised though; this shouldn't have happened until next year…"

While murmuring to herself, she escorted us out of her office. Fred and I walked in silence back to the dormitory. Neither of us wanted to talk after what we just heard. When we got back to the dorm, we both just stared at our roommates who were sleeping peacefully. "I wonder what it's like," said Fred, finally breaking the silence, "to just be normal. No pranks, sneaking out at night, love potions, and –" He mumbled something that I didn't quite catch. Then, he crawled into bed and started snoring.

I didn't sleep until much later. I was having a case of Déjà vu. I felt the same way I did that one night during the summer (when Grace was mad at me for supposedly spraying a swelling potion on flowers that I gave her). Not indignant, angry, or amused, but something different. Something I couldn't quite understand. Why did she have to go and make things so complicated?

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Short Chapter, sorry. I wanted to show James's reaction though. Please review! Support would be appreciated**


	8. Trust Me

**Trust Me**

"How the heck," whistled James, "did you manage to get her up there during Charms class? You were there the entire time!" We were currently standing outside, watching as Filch tried to get Mrs. Norris down from the Whomping Willow.

"It's a secret!" I replied, smiling. If this stunt didn't get me in, nothing would. "Well, we should probably get to class; Filch will probably try to blame you if we stand out here much longer. What do we have next again?"

"We have Transfiguration next," said Sirius. He and James shared a look, and then dragged me along toward the Transfiguration hallway. "By the way, since you obviously don't get caught with you pranks a lot, you'll want to get on the Professor's good side – she's not someone that you want to upset."

I started to ask who the professor was. James and Sirius opened the door to the room, and standing there, was Headmistress McGonagall. She was in the middle of reprimanding a mousy looking kid. "Minnie! You're here!?" I cried, excited to see a familiar face.

She gave me a startled expression. Crap…I forgot that she hasn't met me yet! She looked around the same, although she had less wrinkles and seemed a bit more energetic. "Detention Miss – er, never mind! You do not address a teacher as such, no matter who you are! Name?"

She gave James and Sirius an appraising look. Sirius winked at her cheekily. "Sorry Professor. My name is Grace Lee. I'm new here. I just thought that you looked like someone else I knew," I stammered out quickly, trying to cover up my tracks. James gave me a look that clearly said _that's the best you can do?_

Professor McGonagall was not sympathetic to my excuse. "Rudeness is still not excusable. I expect to see you at detention later in the week. Now, let us begin class." That was not the best first impression…

~Grace Lee~

Luckily, I was able to make up for that first impression by beating out James and Sirius. I managed to transfigure myself into a bunny on my first try (of course, this was because I was an animagus and the boys didn't want to raise suspicion). Minnie was impressed by my work, but said that she will still keep an eye on me (before awarding Gryffindor with 10 points, of course).

The next few weeks were a blur; James, Sirius, Remus (who came back from being "sick"), and Peter gave me insight on what teachers, students, classes etc. were like at this time. Even though they gave helpful analyses of what life was like at Hogwarts, the Marauders themselves were really secretive. They didn't seem to want to open up to me at all. It wasn't until about a month later that that changed.

~Grace Lee~

I was waiting for James in the Head Dorms (he gave me the pass code), when I heard someone singing. Whoever they were, they were getting closer. I turned around and we both shrieked – I seriously thought that the girl's hair was on fire. "Thought…you were James…black hair," she breathed out. Clutching her towel, the girl slowly caught her breath.

This girl had to be Lily Evans: Harry's mother. She had his piercing green eyes and fiery red hair. She was Head Girl while James was Head Boy. It made perfect sense. I couldn't exactly tell her why I shrieked; she didn't seem like the type to appreciate ginger jokes. "Sorry, um, I thought that I was the only one in here. You surprised me," I managed, pleased with my lying skills. "My name is Grace Lee; you must be Lily Evans, I suppose?"

Lily composed herself before smiling and saying, "Nice to meet you, Grace. You're James's cousin right? The one who is good at Transfiguration and Charms? Sorry about my attire; I'll go change; be right back."

When she came back, she seemed much more collected. "So you're looking for James, right? He's out on patrol; for some reason he offered to patrol the entire school for tonight." She seemed to know exactly why he offered. "In any case, I'm going to be the only one here for tonight. But since you're here, there are some Charms things that I wanted to ask you about…"

We ended up talking about random things for over two hours. Lily was a lot like me – we both had a lot of responsibilities and not much time to fulfill them. She still had a sense of humor (at least, she appreciated the fact that Mrs. Norris had not fully recovered and was still too scared to leave Filch's office). I tried to keep the fact that I was from the future under wraps, but she was starting to get suspicious.

"So…how are things with you and James?" I asked, trying to make her forget my (lame) excuse for why James's uncle adopted a random Chinese girl. (Pure blood families don't usually adopt, so this was rather strange. It was even stranger that I actually had magical powers. Magical powers aren't detectable until the witch or wizard is at least 3 or 4, after all. The likelihood of a)James's uncle adopting b)a random Chinese girl that c) was muggle-born and d) had magical powers was near impossible.)

She looked even more wary. "How did you know that I used to hate him?"

"Just, you know…I got this vibe that you two had a rocky relationship a while ago," I stuttered out lamely.

"So you did know that I hated James before I told you!"

"No! I didn't –"

"You said that you and James only met a month ago; I highly doubt that he would tell you about his er…small fights with me. A normal person would have responded with 'you two hated each other? What a surprise!' Your stories aren't adding up. Tell me the truth, Lee. I want to like you but you're keeping something from me." Her voice changed inflections from normal to mocking to angry.

Well, I'm screwed, I thought to myself. My mind scurried in panic trying to come up with a reasonable excuse. Her glare was so terrifying that I ended up quickly explaining the whole story of how I was from the future, blah, blah, blah. She didn't seem satisfied by the end of it. "Still doesn't explain how you know that I hated James."

"Oh. He told me that," I improvised.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Lily smirked. "You could have just told me that in the beginning you know. It's nice to know that I can still be scary when I want to be. James said that I was losing my touch."

We could be great friends, I decided; Lily Evans was not what met the eye. After saying goodbye to Lily, I wandered back to my dorm, lost in thought. I didn't quite understand why James had volunteered to do patrol tonight until I looked outside. Then it all made sense. There was a full moon.

~Grace Lee~

_Hopping, hopping. Hop left. Hop right. Hop le – carrot! No carrot. Dark forest scary. Follow sounds. Leaves cracking. Boys talking._ _Transform. _Back to human form! Whenever I transformed, my mind became that of a simple rabbit's. I could understand what was going on around me, but most of my thought process was put toward reaction speed instead of analysis. The boys were standing in a circle looking at Remus.

"Don't worry Moony; we'll be here for you!" Sirius said cheerfully.

Peter was the first to notice me. "Gr-grace? What are you doing here?" he squeaked.

Alarmed, James's head shot up. "You can't be here! You're going to get hurt." He started toward me, telling me to run.

I opened my mouth to explain that I couldn't get hurt either, but Remus chose this inopportune moment to transform. I had never seen a werewolf transform before so this was quite fascinating for me (in a studious way).

Unfortunately, things went wrong almost immediately. Sirius transformed and tried to hold Remus down. James started dragging me away while I resisted, trying to explain how I was an animagus. James was clearly not listening to me. Remus overpowered Sirius, leaving him unconscious, and went after Peter next. He transformed into a tiny mouse and scurried away. He stumbled slowly toward me and James. James transformed and started kicking Remus. A werewolf was too much for a stag to keep under control. This was not going the way I had planned. And it was completely my fault. I decided to join the fight. I transformed.

_Jump and hit snout. White fur flash equals confused wolfie. Wolfie is ignoring prongs. Goal one is success! Objective two: run away!_

_Wolfie is following. Hop left, right, left, right. Avoid tree. Plan. Need plan. Going to get tired. Need plan. Avoid tree. Tree! Make wolfie crash tree. Disorient wolfie. Hop left right left right left right. Hop straight on tree. Deflect body toward left. Wolfie followed. Hit tree. Fell down. Wolfie down. Transform._

Back to human form. James had followed and stood there, looking exhausted. "Did you know from the beginning?" he asked.

"I'm from the future; there is a reason that I know about your secrets. Maybe you guys should trust me – it's not like I'm going to tell anyone," I said bitterly. I didn't realize how angry I was until this moment. Here I was in the past alone, missing my best friends, and with my idols who only tolerated me.

For a moment, I thought that James was going to get mad. Then, he smiled. "You sound just like Lily from last year. Right before we became friends. You're alright, Grace. Although, you have to share some secrets too, you know."

Smiling, I transformed back into a rabbit – Remus was waking up again. If stags could smile, I think Prongs definitely did. Now, this was going to be a heck of a semester.

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**I won't update this story until I get at least two more reviews, so make sure to comment :)**


	9. No Fear, Shakespeare

**No Fear, Shakespeare  
**

_Gremlin's Journal Entry 847_

_Members of Conversation:_

FGW

_Date: October 17, 2023_

Don't get me wrong; J is my best friend. That doesn't mean that I don't want to strangle him sometimes. As we wrote in this journal, G's disappearance caused a bit of an uproar. At first, everyone was mad at J because they figured that her disappearance had something to do with him. (Because of the prank war) Then, they saw how pathetic he was, and they all quickly realized that it wasn't his fault. Not too many people were willing to pester him about it either; he just looked that pathetic. That, in itself, is rather pathetic. Seriously, he should just admit that – never mind, now isn't a good time.

Anyways, yesterday, I got sick of J being pathetic. After all, there's only so much that a guy can take. I love G because she's like my sister, but it's been a month already! And I, for one, trust Professor McGonagall's judgment, and I'm totally not bitter that she likes J better than me. Anyhow, I told J to just forget about G for a little while. You know, talk to some other girls, take your mind off G. He took this to the most extreme point that he could have.

Let's see, I told him this at what, 7:00 last night? He's already got with both Jenny and Rosaline. It's 10:00 in the morning right now! By this rate, he's going to have 'dated' all of the fifth, sixth, and seventh year girls by the end of the year! It's not exactly what I meant by have a little fun.

However, I guess that he can finally get some action; he hasn't dated anyone since fourth year after all. Although, I am kind of annoyed that J's fan club as swelled since this morning. (And my little fan club has diminished a little. Not that I'm bitter.) As long as he doesn't look at Lin – anyways, that's why I'm annoyed at him.

F signing out.

~James Sirius Potter~

Crap, Jane is looking at me. Or was her name Joanna? And now she's walking over here. She does not look happy. In a crying sort of way. Crap. Crying girls are the worst kind.

"Hey, Jenna, what's up?" I asked, hoping for the best.

"Who's this _Rosaline_ girl I'm hearing of? You said you'd love me forever!" she cried. She 'slapped' me across the face and sat down crying next to her friend, who started comforting her. When I say slapped, I mean hit gently on the cheek, by the way. Nothing to the caliber of Gr – anyways.

Her friend, who seemed significantly more put together than her, stomped over to our table. Fred, who had been walking over to the table, started backing away, eventually sitting down at Lindsey's table. Traitor!

I sized up the girl. Petite, brunette, probably a seventh year like her friend. I can probably do this. Smiling, I stood up from the table. "Hey Cheerio," I teased, smiling the most disarming smile I could. It came naturally.

For a second, she faltered. Then she seemed to remember what she was here for. "How could you do that to Jenny?! I mean, she's like the best person you could hope to be with! You should be asham–"

"I thought the very same. But 'Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night,'" I recited, bending down to kiss her hand. She looked absolutely mesmerized.

"I –"

"Shh! Do not speak," I placed a finger over her mouth, "Meet me under the Whomping Willow if you reciprocate." Leaning forward, I kissed her on the cheek. She turned bright red and ran back to her table. Jamie did not look happy with her. Still, score! I am the best at this!

Fred deemed the table safe for eating again and came back. "Who knew that girls were actually into Shakespeare? I thought it was just Grace's obsession," he exclaimed.

Why did he have to bring _her_ up again!? I was doing just fine. "Yeah…who knew," I said, looking down. "Anyways, we should probably get to class now."

If he noticed that I was depressed again, he didn't show it. "Yep, let's go!"

Why was _he_ so happy?

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Did you like my Romeo and Juliet allusions? **

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**Hecate's Magical Ambassador  
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	10. Denial at its Finest

**Denial at its Finest  
**

"How–what? Aren't there really easy counter-spells to that prank?" I asked, very flabbergasted.

"Well, young grasshopper, help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it," Sirius replied cheekily.

"In other words, he means that I was doing a bit of light reading –"

"–Light?–"

"–and I found an awesome spell that kept the desks levitated for the entire day. There was a counter-curse, but it's pretty obscure," retorted Remus. "I believe it's your turn to share a story now Grace!"

James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I were currently sitting in a little circle sharing pranking tips, drinking butterbeer, telling stories, etc. I was really impressed by my ability to cover up future events. My disgust for Peter wasn't very obvious (it helped that he was passed out from butterbeer) and I hadn't revealed that James and Lily were meant to be together.

I was starting to run out of story ideas though; so far, I had already told them about how we planted re-growing toilet paper all over the Great Hall during Halloween, created a rainforest in the dungeons, and broke into the Slytherin common room. Most of my other stories included some use of the Wizard Web or Figments (similar to the holograms in Star Wars). Or I'd have to talk more about James II; talking about him would inevitably lead to more questions form James I. Unfortunately, James took this moment to insert hopefully, "Tell us more about James…that sounds really weird."

"Um…well, he looks a lot like you," I mumbled incoherently, trying to worm my way out of this situation. "He has brown eyes instead of hazels eyes though, and his nose is a little shorter. He used to be really annoying; actually, he's still pretty annoying. But he can be sweet sometimes too."

"Sounds exactly like Potter," said a new voice. Lily was standing in the doorway. "Were you guys going to tell me about this or what?"

Great. Just great. Now I'm going to say something stupid and Lily is going to badger me about it. The boys were just really not observant. Time to turn the conversation away from me!

"Sorry, Lily, I thought James told you," I said, smiling.

James glared at me. "What she means to say, is that I didn't want to ruin your beauty sleep. Not that you need it; you'd look beautiful anyways," he stammered, wilting under her gaze.

Perfect entrance time! "You're such as pushover, James," I said with the perfect confused and innocent tone of voice, "Why does Lily always make you like this?"

"…And I'm going to sleep. Good night!" said Lily. I caught a glimpse at her red face before she left the room. Gooooooooal (the way those Mexican reporters say it when soccer players score)!

James was trying to cover up how embarrassed he was too. "Thanks Lee," he muttered.

"Sorry, what did I say wrong?" I asked with as much innocence as I could muster.

Both Remus and Sirius seemed like they could die from the dramatic irony. I was going to die from the dramatic irony myself, but I had a façade to keep up.

After Sirius finally caught his breath from laughing so hard, he asked "This will be a _fun_ story to tell. Do you want the abridged version or lengthy one?"

James looked like he wanted to protest before looking down again. Sirius didn't bother pausing before saying, "Well, Evans and Prongsie here got off to a bit of a rough start – Snivellus you see – and so James has been paying the hard way to make up for that. Snivellus and Evans used to be best friends, by the way."

"Anyways, their relationship was pretty uneventful up to the end of fifth year. Before then, it was the standard story over and over again–"

"–James asked her out, she hexed him (she is especially good at the Bat-Bogey Hex), and then James persisted," added Remus. "You know, the usual. Then, things went downhill."

I was pretty sure that things weren't exactly looking up at this point in the story, but I decided to not say anything. Sirius looked a little bit ashamed before muttering, "It was mostly Snivellus's fault, as usual. James and I were having a little fun, when Evans came over to defend Snivellus. Snivellus called Evans a word-that-shall-not-be-named, and then she got mad at Snivellus and they 'broke up' so to speak."

"Not that they were dating or anything," added James. He seemed to have finally mucked up the courage to stop looking so shameful. "Anyways, like Snivellus, I apologized a lot to Lily too. Unlike Sirius, I don't think that it's all his fault; I provoked him after all."

"And that's what happened next," motioned Remus, "Welcome to James 2.0! Not like his grandson, but like – never mind, you know what I mean. Anyways, James finally pulled together his act (with my help by the way) and stopped acting so pompous. Or, at least as close to that as he could get."

"I'm not that pompous!" complained James. "Not as bad as Amos Diggory, at least."

"How'd you guys become friends in the first place?" I wondered. Apparently, I accidently said this aloud.

James looked affronted. "I'm not completely unwanted!"

"Although it did take a miracle," interjected Remus. "Specifically, it took me. See, Lily and James were already mostly on friendly terms; they had some civil conversations. One day, Lily was out really early in the morning. James, Sirius, and Peter just came back from – well, you know."

"Peter and I were fine," explained Sirius. "James, on the other hand, was covered in blood. No idea what happened there."

James looked a little dreamy. "She looked so scared because she thought that I had been bitten by Remus. She started crying because she thought I would be a werewolf."

"Then, Peter sort of ruined the moment by saying 'Oh, he'll be fine. We're all Animagus after all' or something dumb like that," said Sirius, rolling his eyes.

James lost his dreamy stare. "She started yelling at us about how irresponsible we were and stuff." The dreamy look came back. "Then she hugged me, and kind of cried into my shoulder that she was happy that I was okay–"

"–she was full out sobbing –"

"And then a few days later, she yelled at me for not telling her the truth. Something along the lines of what you yelled. And now…we're friends! Nothing more, nothing less. And I'm perfectly content with that. And as for me being sweet, I honestly have no idea what that meant."

Even as he said it, he knew that he was lying. Boys are just sooo obtuse. He's in denial! That isn't good because he needs to be with Lily! It's fate!

I wanted to pressure him into admitting that he still loved her, but the boys were starting to realize that I had eluded their questions about James II. "Well, it's late…I should probably get to bed," I yawned.

Remus figured out what I was doing, and started to protest. Luckily, he was cut off. My unlikely savior turned out to be Peter, who took the moment to throw up on Sirius. Taking this distraction, I left the room, thinking pensively.

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Hope you liked the chapter :)  
**

**Please review! Also, I need ideas for the flashbacks or memories that I'm going to write about. If you review something like "ice cream" or "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" or "penguins", I will try to somehow include that in the story. So please review!  
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	11. A Rose Renamed

**A Rose Renamed**

Grace_ Journal 2.0 Entry 35_

_Date: October 25, 1977_

Ergh! I still can't stand this new journal! The one I have back in 2023 is so much better! I actually have to write in this one because I can't remember the "insert memory" spell anymore. I just hope that James and Fred don't find that one…I have all my personal memories in there. Literally. I still can't believe that they honestly thought that I would put _all_ of my prank ideas in their journal. You always have to have some secrets, right?

Anyways, today was more than eventful. I went into James's room to look for his Transfiguration textbook (and other things…*cough* invisibility cloak *cough*) when I opened his cabinet. Apparently, the Head dorm has a pensieve like the Headmaster's office does. So anyways, I was totally not snooping around, and I kind of looked at it, got dizzy, and next thing you know, I'm submerged in the memories that James put in.

I swear that I was going to pull myself out of the memory. But my curiosity got the best of me. The memory showed how James and Lily became friends and all of James's sensitive moments. How could I miss out on that!? Here is what the memories showed:

Flashback #1:

_I found myself right outside the Whomping Willow. Standing right next to me was James, Sirius, and Peter. Peter and Sirius looked exhausted but otherwise perfectly fine. James, on the other hand, looked like he had survived the Hunger Games or something.  
_

_ "Moony needs to lose weight," complained Sirius, "He's getting fat off of Honeyduke chocolate! He should be considerate of us having to haul him over here every time!"_

_ "If you want to be the one to wrestle him to throw away the chocolate, be my guest," Peter said quietly. If he had said it just a bit louder and more sarcastically, it could have been funny._

_ Sirius completely ignored him. He turned to James and blinked. "What the heck happened to you?"_

_ James opened his mouth to explain, but he didn't get very far. From afar, someone had just screamed._

_ "Nooooo!" screeched a voice that could only be Lily. I could see her running toward the guys now. She had dropped all of her books in a hurry to get to them._

_ Up close, Lily looked as pale as death itself. James opened his mouth to try to explain, but Lily was hysterical._

_ "You're covered in blood – and your shirt is ripped – and there's tufted fur in your hair! I knew that you __idiots__ would try to do something to help Remus! Now you're going to have to pay the price!" She broke down sobbing again, hugging James, who looked quite overwhelmed by all the attention he was receiving._

_ Sirius mouthed something that looked like "Milk it for all its worth!" James finally got over the fact that he was being hugged by the love of his life and hugged her back._

_ It was all lovey-dovey when Peter decided to ruin it. He looked so confused. "What do you mean he'll have to pay the price? You don't actually think that he'll become a werewolf, do you? He'll be fine; we're all Animagus after all."_

_ Lily staggered away from James for a second. "What?" she asked, still sniffing a little while removing her grasp from James._

_ Peter rolled his eyes. "He'll be fine! He's an Animagus!" he exclaimed, "And you all always call me dumb."_

_ Sirius took the moment to slap his own forehead and take in Peter's stupidity._

_It took Lily a few seconds to comprehend what he said. Then, she took a deep breath and asked with a much more dangerous tone, "What?!"_

_James opened his mouth to talk again, but Lily had lost it. "JAMES HARRY POTTER! HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH A THING!? THAT IS SO IRRESPONSIBLE AND YOU COULD HAVE DIED ON THE WAY OR BEEN PERMANENTLY DISFIGURED! AND NOW YOU COULD GO TO AZKABAN FOR BEING UNDERAGE __AND__ UNREGISTERED! YOU THREE ARE SUCH IRRESPONSIBLE, ARROGANT AND UTTER IDIOTS!"_

_James gaped at her, clearly not knowing what to say. Lily's face gradually returned from bright red to its normal color. She tackled him with another hug and sobbed, "Don't do that ever again to me, okay? Don't make me worry about you being okay! And don't be so idiotic ever again!"_

_I caught one last glance at James's shocked face before the Whomping Willow dissolved._

Flashback #2:

_ The scene reformed into a hallway. A sickly looking Remus was walking with Lily. I was with James under his invisibility cloak. Lily was clearly interrogating Remus for answers._

_ "Remus! Please!? Oh, come on!" begged Lily. "Just tell me what you guys have been up to! I'm worried that you guys are going to get hurt! You know that these kinds of skills can attract Voldemort–"_

_ James seemed a little startled by the name. He tripped over his invisibility cloak and fell on top of Remus. Both Remus and Lily looked startled to say the least. Or at least, Remus did for a moment. He lost consciousness in a matter of seconds. Lily took one look at the invisibility cloak. She looked bitter and spat out, "__Another__ secret? Seriously?"_

_ James managed to sputter out, "Lily, it's not what is seems like–"_

_ "What is it then?" Lily glared dangerously. That shut James up quickly. "Listen, I know that we've had a lot of bad history. But we already had that conversation about being friends. Just friends." She added that last part after looking at James's expression.  
_

_ James tried to protest. "We are frien–"_

_ "Friends tell each other everything!" exclaimed Lily, sounding clearly frustrated. "Maybe you guys should trust me. Tell me the truth for once. I could actually help you! Plus, isn't that what you say you always wanted; for me to stop yelling at you?"_

_ James had an indescribable expression on his face. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. Finally, he broke out into an impish smile. "You want to know everything? Well, Professor McGonagall mentioned something about how she'd __love__ to get with Professor Slughorn…"_

_ Lily gave him a slightly disgusted look, but she understood that that was how he was apologizing. She put out her hand to James who was still sitting on a knocked out Remus. "Friends?" she asked._

_ James's smile faltered for a second before strengthening. "Friends," he affirmed, taking her hand. The hallway dissolved._

Flashback #3:

_ The scene reformed in the Heads Dormitory. James and Lily were by themselves, finishing homework._

_ James didn't look happy. "Why did I decide to continue Arithmancy? I hate it so much! I don't even need it!"_

_ Lily rolled her eyes. "Why did you take it then?" she asked._

_ James stopped for a second before saying, "Well, I got an O for my O.W.L.S. for it." I noticed though that he had to think about what he was going to say. He also blinked too many times; he was definitely lying._

_ "Well, you're lucky that I'm still taking the course," replied Lily, scooting next to him to look at his work._

_ "Yeah, pure luck," mumbled James, just so that Lily couldn't hear him._

_ Lily finished correcting his math. "It's a miracle that you got an O for this class! That was the most horrific math I've ever seen. Lucky you don't need it for…what don't you need it for again?"_

_ "I want to be an Auror," replied James. "Like my dad."_

_ "You must really look up to your dad."_

_ James sighed. "I'll be lucky if I'm half the man that he is."_

_ "We all should be judged on our own merits," Lily spoke softly, "I'm proud to say that I know you."_

_ "What happened to thinking of me as an arrogant, bullying toe-rag?" smiled James._

_ "Well, you know what they say; you can't tell who someone truly is until you share a room with them for a week," Lily said sarcastically._

_ James laughed before looking pensive again. "So, what do you want to be when you grow up?"_

_ "An Auror, for sure."_

_ "Any reason why? I don't suppose that your parents are Aurors?" asked James._

_ "First of all, both my parents are florists, which explain my awful name. Second–"_

_ "–you don't like your name?" asked a bewildered James._

_ "Ugh, no! I hate it. I wish I were called Rose, or maybe even Daffodil!" complained Lily._

_ "Well, no matter what, 'a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet'. And I personally love your name. It just has a good ring to it." As he said it, he turned red, as if he were thinking about "Lily Potter" rather than "Lily Evans."_

_ Lily didn't seem to notice. She turned slightly red, but kept going. "I want to be an Auror because I want to protect my family from – well, you-know-who."_

_ James looked a little sad as she said this. "The only thing is that Aurors don't have much of a family life. My dad is always out there fighting. Being in constant danger; I never know if he'll be alive by the end of the day."_

_ For the first time, James looked incredibly vulnerable. I never saw him like this before. In front of his friends, I could tell that they were bonded by something like this. They had seen his insecurities. It was Lily's turn to see him for who he really was now._

_ Lily realized this too. "But that's why I need to be an Auror," she explained, choosing her words carefully. "I want to make sure that the people I love will be alive by the end of the day, even if I'm not. I also don't have much of a choice of whose side I'm on, like you do."_

_ James looked at her incredulously. "I don't have a choice either!" he exclaimed. Then more calmly, he said, "I always have to choose what side you're on; I stand by __you__."_

I nearly died in excitement. James was the sweetest person ever!

I seriously thought that they were going to kiss, but I never found out. Someone pulled on my ponytail and I fell out awkwardly. Turns out, James skipped class too. And he was not happy about me supposedly snooping around.

He got really mad at me and almost through me out of his room. Apparently I said something that reminded him of Lily. Something along the lines of this happened (James _Me)_

"You're not allowed back in here! I don't appreciate you going through my stuff!"

_"Well, I'm sorry that I practically shared a room with you for a month!"_

Apparently, just that little remark was enough to send him on a break down. He went on this little rant about how he loves her and he can't stand being rejected anymore. It was seriously pathetic. He loves her so much, and he is the sweetest thing ever; how does Lily not see that?!

Long story short (too late now), I vow to get those two together! Grace signing out :)

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**Remember to post ideas; it can just be words or phrases. I've been having writer's block with this story. Review, Follow, or Favorite please!  
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**P.S. Did you guys get my second Shakespeare allusion? ;D**


	12. Minnie's Favorites

**Minnie's Favorites**

"Do you know why you're here?"

I gave my best sarcastic yet endearing smile. "For my weekly Tuesday meeting, duh! Why else would I be here?"

Minnie simply rolled her eyes. "Good morning James."

"Good morning Minnie," I replied happily.

"Potter…"

"Good morning _Professor _Minnie," I pretended to drawl. I seriously should have gotten more sleep and less coffee; my heart rate was probably going off the chart.

Minnie closed her eyes and accepted defeat, as usual. We'd been having these meetings far too often for her to get worked up over my normal greetings. "So, what trouble have you gotten into over the past week?"

I had to think about it. There were so many things that I had gotten into to distract myself that I couldn't remember half of it. "Well, Tessa, Becky, and Leah got into a fight about who I liked more," I winced. "That's how I got this black eye. Then–"

"–wait, I thought you said you were seeing Abby last week–"

"–is that what her name was? Well, I'm seeing Caroline now."

Minnie's lip twitched. "Anything else?"

"Um…oh yeah! I accidentally started a food fight in the Great Hall!"

"Ah, yes, that incident. How do you 'accidentally' start a food fight?"

"Well, I found a biscuit on the floor, and I wasn't going to eat it! I didn't want to waste a perfectly amazing biscuit though, so I threw it at Malfoy so that he'd think twice before making a move on Rosie!"

Minnie gave me a look of exasperation and amusement. "This makes me feel really nostalgic, you know. Do you know why?"

This was the first time that Minnie had actually mentioned anything about feeling nostalgic. I asked her plenty of times about my namesakes. She'd never told me anything though. I went for the innocent expression. "No, is there a reason why?"

Minnie got slightly teary-eyed, as if she were talking more to herself. "You remind me so much of James and Sirius. You three are probably my favorite students, you know. You three are just so similar. Why, I think that your grandfather started a food fight in the cafeteria because Mr. Diggory 'looked' at Ms. Evans!" Minnie came back to reality really quickly though. "It doesn't excuse your behavior though, Mr. Potter. You will still be serving detention with Professor Longbottom tomorrow evening."

Dang it! Oh well, it was too much to hope for anyways. Hopefully, she wouldn't bring up anything else, that way I could go see Catherine. Or was it Carol?

"One more thing, and then you can go back to class," started Minnie.

"Yes?"

"Several of you professors have contacted me saying that your grades have been steadily dropping."

"My grades are still above average; I have an A in Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. Heck, I have Es in Charms and DADA! There's nothing to worry about!"

Minnie gave me the you-know-what-I-mean face. "James, you got O's on all of your OWLS! Don't you expect better from your own grades? You've never done this poorly; you aren't _average._"

I was really defensive about my grades. I'm smart, and I know it. "If I tried harder, I'd definitely outdo everyone! Plus, I _didn't_ get all Os. Fred and I both got an A on the History of Magic test and an E on the Transfiguration OWL. You're thinking of Grace," I snapped. As soon as I said her name, I felt like I was having the worst sugar crash of all time.

Minnie realized that she had accidentally set off a mine field, but I had already started rambling. "You know, she didn't actually get an E on that Potions OWL. Fred and I used magic to change what it said on paper. Potions is one of her strongest subjects; of course she got an O! We were going to tell her at the end of this year."

I paused for a moment, blinking furiously. I'm not going to cry, I thought. Crying never does anything. Minnie tried to use this moment to interject kind words. "James, Grace will be happy to know that if she gets back by–"

Unfortunately, those words only set off a deluge of panic on my part. "_IF_ she gets back!? But, I thought you said that–"

Minnie cut me off. "You didn't let me finish. I was going to say that Grace will be happy to know that if she gets back _by the end of the year_."

I couldn't articulate or think clearly, but I heard the gist of what I was saying. "S-s-sorry Professor McGonagall. I'm just so worried for Grace. I even went to the library to research everything that happened during 1977. I looked up everything I could find on 1977 on the Wizard Web. Not that I don't trust you, but 1977 was a really violent time. Are you sure that Grace will be safe from Voldemort?"

Minnie shivered a little when I said that name, but I persisted. I needed to know. "One website said that there was a battle at Hogsmeade on December 15, 1977. It was the first that Voldemort had aimed at Hogwarts. It said that a Hogwarts female student died. Please promise me that it wasn't Grace."

Even though it probably didn't take that long, Minnie's pause before answering felt like an eternity. She gave me a look of pity and something else that I couldn't discern. Finally, she said, "She lived long enough to leave on New Year's Eve. I don't know anything else."

It wasn't much, but it was enough for me to live with for now. Maybe I could finally stop researching 1977…

Minnie seemed like she wanted to interrogate me more, but she probably realized that I was in a fragile state. "That concludes our session for today. And James, just remember; you can always come to me for any guidance."

She reached over and gave me a stiff hug. It was a little awkward, but I definitely felt a lot better afterward. I gave her a small smile before heading toward the door.

"Wait, James?" called Minnie.

I turned around. "Yes?"

"Are you staying for Christmas Break?"

That really confused me. I hadn't really made up my mind yet, but the words were out of my mouth instinctually. "Yeah, I'm staying! See you next week Minnie!"

Before I left, I swore that I saw a look of realization flash over Minnie's face. She mumbled something that I didn't quite catch; I think that it was something along the lines of "James…love…history….repeat?"

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**It seems like James is the only one who doesn't get it ;) Please review, follow or favorite! Any feedback is appreciated! **

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	13. I Hate You!

**I Hate You!**

"Hey, James; wait up!" I yelled. Ever since we had that conversation in the Head Dorm, James was trying to avoid me. He seemed embarrassed that he had revealed so much to someone that he met a little over a month ago.

He finally seemed to realize that he couldn't avoid me forever though, so he stopped in front of the entrance to the Head Dorms and tried to go for the casual "Hi Grace, how's your life? [Please don't talk about that last conversation]" type conversation.

"You've been avoiding me," I complained.

"Whaaaat? No I haven't!" James retorted weakly.

Remus, who was standing next to James, raised an eyebrow. "James, you literally bolted out of Potions class yesterday after Grace asked you for fluxweed. I had to make up a lie and say that you felt like you were going to puke!"

James didn't seem to have much of a response to that. Finally, he muttered, "Just please tell me you didn't tell anyone else about that."

I rolled my eyes. That was what he was worried about? Go figure. "James, I'm pretty sure that the entire school knows about your infatuation with Lily."

He even had the audacity (or stupidity) to look surprised and confused. "Really? I mean, a couple of years ago, sure, but I've been good about not asking or saying anything!"

Remus and I shared a look. Oh James, I thought. "I'm just going to ignore that and continue with what I came here to do," I said. "I am going to help you get Lily Evans!"

Remus gave a very pronounced cough. I rolled my eyes. "Remus and I are going to help you get Lily!" I exclaimed with enthusiasm. Suddenly, Sirius popped out of nowhere and yelled "Don't think that you're excluding me from this!"

The three of them waited for a moment too long. "Isn't Peter supposed to pop up now and exclaim his loyalty to the new project?" asked James.

I thought about how Peter was currently stuck to the Gryffindor Common Room ceiling. "He, er, might be busy, er, studying?" I tried.

Luckily, the boys didn't seem to care very much. James seemed a bit more optimistic. "Well, let's get started!"

~Grace Lee~

**How to score with Lily Evans!**

**(Sirius** _Grace_ James Remus)

_1. Ask her nicely._

That's never worked before.

**Like ever.**

_2. Make her laugh._

**That girl has no sense of humor.**

Don't say that about my future wife!

In other words, she's not immature, like Sirius.

**Maturity is overrated.**

_3. Give her sincere compliments._

**That's only gotten you hexed.**

That's because the compliments that he gives are something along the lines of "Your eyes are so green that they make Professor Sprout's plants look moldy."

I was 12!

_4. Have a moment._

What is that even supposed to mean?

_You know; be sensitive and stuff!_

These two wouldn't know what sensitivity was if it hit them in the head.

**I'll hit you in the head!**

_5. Convince her of your true feelings._

That's stupid! All guys know the first rule to asking out girls: Never tell a girl that you like her; it makes you look like an idiot!

**You've learned well, my young padawan! Seriously Grace, you suck at giving advice!**

_Excuse me! My advice is great! You two are just idiotic!_

**Whatever; watch the master!**

**6. Hexing her!**

_How does that help?_

You don't let it know it was you. Duh!

_I…how…what!?_

See what I have had to deal with for years?!

**7. Embarrassing her!**

_I'm not even going to ask._

**8. Pranking her!**

_Ok, be serious! How does this help!?_

**I am Sirius!**

_You know what I meant!_

**Well, afterward, you flirt/banter with the embarrassed female! It worked on pretty much any girl that I've wooed!**

_And how many girls have you wooed._

**Well…pretty much all of the girls in our year, the two years above us, and the year below us.**

_You disgust and confuse me at the same time._

Someone who finally understands me!

**9. Make her jealous!**

_That one actually isn't that bad!_

Ugh, that just means that we definitely can't use it.

_Oi! Whose side are you on?_

I was joking, sheesh!

**10. Pick up lines!**

_I don't think that those actually work._

**Don't lie! You're a pretty girl; plenty of guys must have used them on you. You didn't think a single pickup line was creative?**

_Er…thanks? And yeah, some are creative, but_

I think they'll work as long as it's good. For example, "If you played Quidditch, you'd be a Keeper."

_Don't snatch the pen from me! And as much as I appreciate the genius of Quidditch, I highly doubt that Lily would._

How about something like "I must need to learn Occlumency, because I can't get you out of my mind."

_I'm actually really surprised; I thought that you two would go for the dirty pickup lines. I've heard enough of those to last a lifetime. Those actually aren't so bad._

**Come on! ;) Get it?**

_Thanks Sirius._

**Wait, so you've heard a lot of pickup lines? What's the best one that you've heard?**

_Well, it wasn't a pickup line, but I thought it was sweet: "Even the strongest Memory Charm couldn't make me forget about you."_

**Ugh. It's sweet. Stop it before it contaminates me!**

_Oh Sirius -_-_

~Grace Lee~

"Well, James, I guess that you get to choose in the end," I sighed. Planning did not go the way I wanted it to thanks to Sirius.

James looked at me, then at Sirius. "Sorry Grace, but I already tried everything you suggested. Whereas a prank…I actually have not done that before."

~Grace Lee~

"This is so stupid! Why am I even helping again?" I complained.

"Because they trust you! And because they are less likely to kill you!" retorted Sirius.

I gave him my most withering glare before setting the pastries on the table. According to the boys, Lily, Mary McDonald, and Dorcas Meadowes always sat in the seats surrounding this table. If I sat down and at a pastry, the girls wouldn't suspect a thing.

Sure enough, the girls came in, chattering away. Lily smiled when she saw me. "Hey Grace. What's with the desserts?"

I hate acting, I thought. But, I still acted nonchalant. "I don't know, but they taste really good! Maybe the House Elves wanted to give us a pre-Halloween gift?"

Dorcas still looked suspicious, but Mary was easy to trust. "Hey, these are my favorite!" she exclaimed. "And there is treacle tart! You two love treacle tart!" She proceeded to hand a small portion of treacle tart to the two girls.

"I supposed there's no harm," replied Lily. However, as soon as the three girls took one bite of their desserts, that statement became very ironic.

Pink sticky substance exploded all over the girls. The common room was at its fullest, and everyone was now staring at the struggling girls. Most people were giggling; some were outright laughing. No matter how many "_Scourgify" _spells were cast, it would not come off.

Dorcas and Mary had managed to get most of out of their hair, but Lily still had a large pink glob stuck above her right ear. James probably chose the worst time to come down and tease her; she was getting really frustrated.

I don't quite remember what happened; one moment James was teasing her about how her hair looked better normally, and she retorted back kind of playfully. It didn't stay that way though; Sirius pretty much walked in and announced that James pranked her. Next thing you know, Lily is up and furious.

"Potter, I hate you!"

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	14. Changing Perceptions

**Changing Perceptions**

"Lils, I'm really sorry. I didn't want to –"

Lily cut him off almost immediately. "Forget it Potter. And don't call me that!" She stormed out of the common room with everyone watching her and James.

The common room was dead silent. No one moved or said a word; everyone was too scared to. The tension and awkwardness was so palpable you could almost taste it.

James looked so heartbroken that I knew that I had to help him. But I could only get to him if everyone else stopped glaring down on him like a hawk.

Thankfully, Peter took the moment to drop from the ceiling. I guess that the sticking spell I used wasn't strong enough. "Free bungee jumping for everyone!" I yelled, "Get in line; we're having a party!"

Sirius also was much smarter than he seemed. He gave me a _You-are-in-charge-of-fixing-a-now-emotionally-dist ressed-James_ look and sauntered off to simultaneously flirt with girls and convince them to bungee jump. Gradually, the common room became more like a party area with Remus and Sirius decorating, giving out butterbeer, and talking people up.

However, James had bolted out the door after Peter fell from the ceiling. It took me a while to catch up with him at the Head Dorms. He was just sitting there, messing with his hair and glancing at the door like he wanted to go in but couldn't muster the courage. I sat down next to him.

"Go away Grace," he muttered, "I don't need an I-told-you-so tangent."

Feeling a little affronted, I decided to take a different approach. "Actually, I was coming down here to see if you were a true Gryffindor. Guess I won the bet."

James looked slightly offended. I continued, "Or maybe you finally realized that she will never love you; you just aren't good enough."

Now he just looked hurt. "Well, thanks Ms. Sunshine–"

I cut him off. "Actually, I think it's because you figured out that she is not worth it. There is nothing that you could possibly see in her."

Now James was riled up. He had a dangerous glint in his eye. "_Don't_ _say__that__about_ _Lily_." He articulated every syllable very clearly. "You can talk about how I'm a coward or that I'm just not good enough for her, but _never_ insult her. She is the kindest, funniest, and most beautiful person that I have ever met. And I love her."

He raised his voice with every sentence and practically yelled the last part. Goal achieved.

I made my voice soft. "Then tell her that. And I don't think that you aren't good enough; any guy that loves a girl as much as you love Lily is good enough. That's really all that girls want. We want someone to love us and tell us that."

James went quiet for a second. Then, he got up and walked toward the door, ignoring me the entire time. I thought that I had really done it, and that he would hate me forever. But, he turned back at the last second. "I don't know if I've told you this, but you really are a good friend Grace." Then, he walked into the Heads Dormitory.

~Grace Lee~

Normally, I'm not a really nosy person. However, this kind of opportunity was not one that I was about to miss. Silently, I thanked James for giving me what he called a "spy-operation" kit, which was the only think that I brought with me from the future. It was pretty much a small bag with a charm that made it bigger on the inside. I took out the Extendable Ear and listened in.

"Lily! Liillyyyyy! I know you're in there…you can't ignore me forever!" begged James.

"I can try!" stated an irate/amused sounding Lily. A door creaked open. "Seriously, took you long enough."

"Ummm…sorry what?" asked James. Thank gosh boys were a bit thick; I was really confused myself.

"Well, normally, when a person comes to explain how sorry they are, they don't wait 2 hours to do so!" complained Lily.

"Er…"

"And that's really annoying because then the person who was mad gets time to cool off. And then they realize that maybe…maybe they overreacted just a little bit. Hypothetically speaking, of course," continued Lily.

I couldn't see James's face, but it probably looked a lot happier now. "And hypothetically speaking, the person came to beg for forgiveness also realized this but was mainly focusing on the fact that he was so stupid to listen to Sirius in order to get a girl's attention."

It was really quiet for a moment, and I wishfully thought that they might have kissed or something. This thought was interrupted by someone, presumably Lily plopping on a couch and laughing. "We really haven't changed much have we?"

"I don't think that we ever really change; we just change how we perceive things."

"Well, that's deep. But, I disagree. Remember last year when you took all of my clothes and hung it in the common room for everyone to see? And I had to come out in a towel and awkwardly take everything back?"

"Yeah…that wasn't me. That was Sirius and he blamed it on me because he was sincerely afraid of you."

"You're joking."

"Nope, it was Sirius who did it."

"Why did you take the blame? We were both hoarse from exchanging remarks and you couldn't walk correctly for a week after all the hexes I hit you with!"

"It just kind of goes to show you that people don't change; I always do stupid things to get your attention. Remember all of those weird pickup lines I said to you?"

She snorted. "I wish not."

"And all of the times you hexed me for them?"

"That was your fault!" Even though she said it indignantly, I could tell that she was smiling.

"See, these things just never change! You just perceived it differently the first time. But, I definitely was a little annoying when I was younger."

"Yea, a 'little' annoying," Lily said sarcastically.

"Oy, don't push it," laughed James.

There was a small pause before Lily started talking. "I'm a bit tired, so I'm going to go sleep now. And for the record James, I don't hate you. I don't really mean comments like those. I would have thought that you got used to that by now."

James paused for a second. "Even though I know that you usually don't mean those comments, I guess I always take it seriously because I mean every word I say."

Her footsteps led her to the right and she stopped in the far corner. "So…did you mean the things you said? You don't have to tell me, I'm just curious."

This is your moment James! Don't screw this up, I thought. However, he didn't say anything that I wanted to hear.

"I guess that depends on your perceptions and what you want to believe. Good night, Lily."

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